Finally...$2000 raised!!!

So after Florida and the crossing of our first state line via bicycle we hit Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana in quick succession. So, today we have Mobile, Alabama (where we'll spend 2 build days!) followed by Biloxi, MS. I'll save New Orleans for it's own post because of how excited I am to spend 6 days in the "Big Easy"!

Mobile, AL

Part of the port of Mobile

• Mobile is the only seaport in Alabama, and is currently the 9th largest port in the U.S.
• A 2007 study determined that Mobile was the wettest city in the contiguous 48 states averaging 66.3 inches of rain per year over a 30 year period. (Take that Seattle!)
• Jimmy Buffet spent a significant part of his childhood in Mobile.
• A recent survey ranked Mobile as one of the 5 most polite cities in America.

Biloxi, MS

Biloxi Lighthouse

• The Biloxi Lighthouse (supposedly one of the most photographed objects in the Southern U.S.) was built in Baltimore in 1848 and is one of only 2 surviving Gulf Coast light houses (out of an original 12).
• Hurricane Katrina hit Biloxi hard in 2005, with a storm surge that was over 27 ft high.
• There are 8 casinos in Biloxi, and gambling here has dated back to the 1940's when the legality of gambling was suspect to say the least.
• Barq's Root Beer was invented in Biloxi, Mississippi, in 1898 by Edward Adolf Barq, Sr.

Welp, that's it for today folks. Also, in other G-R-E-A-T news...I crossed my $2000 fundraising "line" today. Which is just in time for the Friday deadline. Thanks to some very recent donations from Betty Drake (neighbor extraordinare!), Cheryl Jones (awesome cousin!) and Jack Porter (birthday twin! Whaddup March 27th!?)